Hit-run victim: Case bungled

STOCKTON - Aaron and Angie Vaughn want answers. Why would someone drive a car into Aaron while he was safely riding his bicycle on a city street?

Joe Goldeen

STOCKTON - Aaron and Angie Vaughn want answers. Why would someone drive a car into Aaron while he was safely riding his bicycle on a city street?

Why would they flee the scene, leaving him bleeding and severely injured in a ditch?

Why didn't police let the public and media know about the accident to find witnesses and aid them in their investigation?

Finally, why are police taking so long to find the culprit when the Vaughns have provided them with what they believe is the license number of the offending vehicle and a possible suspect?

Having no answers is taking an emotional toll on Aaron Vaughn, 38, and his recovery from major trauma.

The Vaughns recently decided to go public after the May 19 hit-and-run accident partly out of frustration with the Stockton Police Department's handling of their case, which they feel has been bungled, and partly due to the slow pace of the investigation.

Shortly before 10:50 p.m. May 19, a Sunday, the Vaughns donned orange safety vests, switched on their bicycle lights and headed out for a ride from their North E Street home. Riding westbound on Alpine Avenue with Aaron in the lead, a car - the Vaughns believe it was a blue Chrysler PT Cruiser - swept by within a foot of Angie and hit Aaron hard, sending him flying off his bike into a 4-foot-deep culvert.

"If Angie wasn't there, I might have died right there from internal bleeding," Aaron Vaughn said of his wife of eight years and best friend for 14. When he first arrived at San Joaquin General Hospital that night, Vaughn said they had to dig rubber out of his calf.

Today, he's in severe pain most of the time - a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10.

He required pelvic surgery to place a long pin and a metal chain to hold the bone together. His left leg had to be reattached - only the skin was holding it to his hip, Vaughn said. And his left foot remains broken and untreated for now until more healing takes place.

"I'm on strict bedrest for seven weeks, I can't walk on my leg for 10 weeks, and I don't know what they're going to do with my foot," Vaughn said from a hospital bed in his home, a single room he and his wife rent from family members.

A police report corroborates Vaughn's story, but that is all the information authorities are releasing on the case.

"It's currently being investigated by our hit-and-run investigator and our traffic division. It's an ongoing investigation," Police Department spokesman Officer Joe Silva said. He could not say why the incident was not publicly reported when it initially occurred May 19.

That concerns Vaughn. And that's why his wife has reached out to their friends and through social networking for help, resulting in more than 50 tips that they've shared with police. Those tips included several unrelated people providing the same license plate number.

"We gave them names and license plates. I understand they can't just go by what we say, but they can at least investigate. I just want the cops to do their jobs," Vaughn said.

At the scene of the crash, an officer might have retrieved a significant piece of the car - a wheel well with a unique VIN, or vehicle identification number - that could aid in identifying the suspect vehicle, the Vaughns say. But after asking police about it later, they were told the car part could not be found.

"That's really upsetting," Angie Vaughn said. Silva, the police spokesman, reiterated that because it is an ongoing investigation he cannot release information that might hinder it.

On occasions when the Vaughns have contacted police for an update on the investigation or to offer them information they believe is pertinent, they have to explain what the case is about, they say. The Vaughns believe there are three different police reports on the case floating around, although they could only provide one case number.

"The cops' report shows I was in a car. They are processing it as 'fleeing the scene' rather than 'hit-and-run.' It should never be handled by traffic, because I was on a bicycle," Aaron Vaughn said.

"My whole issue is we have been having to do this investigation on our own," Vaughn said. "I do not want to put officers down, but what really upsets me is when they ask, 'Haven't you contacted your insurance agent?' and I tell them I was on a bicycle and they are like, 'Oh, I didn't know.'"